Why Is My Hair Falling Out?

You watch as your hairline slowly recedes, especially around your face, making the effect just that much more obvious. Or, perhaps you have to twist your hair ties a few more times now that it’s thinner.

Regardless of how hair loss affects you, you’re certainly not alone — millions of American men and women experience hair loss, affecting up to 50% of men and women.

If your hair is disappearing before your eyes and you want to know why, you’ve come to the right place. Here at Vivida Dermatology, our team of board-certified dermatologists understands the nature of hair loss and we want to share that information with you below. 

Even better, we’ll also share how you can fight back with a cutting-edge hair restoration system that will have you looking like your old self again.

Men and hair loss

While men and women share some of the same basic drivers of hair loss, there are different circumstances. As well, men outpace women on hair loss, and we get into why this happens here.

The most common cause of hair loss in men is male androgenetic alopecia, which is what creates the increasingly pronounced hairline recession commonly found in men. Fueled by the male reproductive hormone dihydrotestosterone (DHT), this form of hair loss affects hair follicles in several ways:

• DHT causes hair follicles to shrink
• DHT shortens the growth cycles of your follicles
• DHT lengthens the resting phase of your hair

As a result of this DHT activity, men can lose hair and existing hair can become thinner and weaker.

Women and hair loss

Like men, women’s hair loss can often be tied back to reproductive hormones. More specifically, when women go through menopause, hormones shift in a way that affects hair follicle growth and health.

First, the sudden drop in estrogen is problematic for hair growth because this hormone stimulates the hair follicles, prompting them to produce more hair and prolong the growing phase. Without estrogen, the growth phase shortens and your hair thins.

Estrogen hormones also block the small amounts of DHT that women produce naturally and, as we learned above, DHT isn’t good for hair growth. So, without the blocking action of estrogen after menopause, the DHT in your body has more influence and can affect — and harm — your hair follicles.

Other hair loss factors

While androgenetic alopecia is the most common reason why both men and women lose hair, other issues can make your hair fall out, such as:

• Too much stress
• Certain medications and treatments, such as chemotherapy
• Severe illness
• Vitamin deficiencies, such as vitamin D and iron
• Rapid weight loss, especially when using GLP-1 weight loss drugs

All told, anything that disrupts your body’s normal balance, from stress to hormones to nutrition, can show up in your hair.

Hair restoration

The good news is that we have an excellent solution for many forms of hair loss with follicular unit extraction (FUE). With this innovative technique, we remove 1-4 hair follicles at a time from areas where you have extra hair and transplant them into areas where hair is sparse.

FUE has been a game-changer for hair loss. It delivers excellent, natural-looking results and allows you to keep a great head of hair long into the future.

To learn more about hair loss and how FUE can work magic to restore lost hair, contact one of our offices in Las Vegas or Henderson, Nevada, or St. George, Utah, to schedule a consultation.